Stacey Menchel Kussell
By Stacey Menchel Kussell
-
Culture ‘Minus 16’ Is Plus for Ailey
‘Don’t make it look pretty,” Danielle Agami said as she directed the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater during a recent rehearsal. “It’s not about the construction of beauty, it’s about the sensation. Every gesture, posture, and breath is beautiful. Just let your body be.” Agami, a former member of Batsheva Dance Company, spent November at…
-
The Schmooze Gallim Dance Makes Waves in Manhattan
Photo by Franziska Strauss Every morning on her way to dance rehearsal with the Batsheva Dance Ensemble, Andrea Miller would walk along the beach and breath in the cool, saline air. Hatayelet, Tel Aviv’s beach promenade, gave her a perfect view of the surfers. “Surfers understand the world in this perfect way,” said Miller. “They…
-
The Schmooze When Israeli Dance Goes Abroad
“Jewish people were historically a people of the book, reading Torah and studying,” said Noa Wertheim at the recent panel discussion, “The Diaspora of Israeli Dance.” “Now reconnecting with their ancient Mediterranean, working and cultivating the land, they have rediscovered their bodies and it is like an explosion.” The idea that the physicality of Israeli…
-
Culture Bringing Modern Dance Down to Earth
Noa Wertheim stands onstage with the Vertigo Dance Company, adjusting a dancer’s leg and redirecting a turn. If she disagrees with a step, her head shakes a cascade of wispy, brown hair into her eyes. Wertheim is an architect. She constructs an edifice of movement, pattern and line. Working toward perfection in every rehearsal, she…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Israel deported me for helping West Bank Palestinians. I won’t give up on a peaceful future for the country I love
- 2
Culture Hey, Irving — why are there so many Jews named Irving?
- 3
Culture A shocking true story of Mexico’s Jewish community comes to Netflix
- 4
Books Esteemed by Oscar Wilde, England’s ‘greatest Jewess’ may finally be getting her due
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture How a wedding in Oklahoma taught a group of police officers and SWAT team members to care about Judaism and Israel
-
Fast Forward Germany’s antisemitism czar says slogans like ‘From the river to the sea’ should be illegal
-
Fast Forward There’s something missing from John Fetterman’s memoir: Israel
-
Looking Forward How a Russian samovar connects me to the old country — and my black market dealing great-great-grandmother
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
